1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for influencing the traffic flow of vehicles within a route section and to a system for carrying out the method.
2. Related Art
On motorways, various causes lead to traffic problems such as traffic jams, slow-moving traffic or the like. An important reason is the uncoordinated driving style of the various vehicles within a route section. For example, overtaking manoeuvres are in some cases performed by vehicles which are travelling at only a slightly higher speed than the vehicles which they are overtaking. Accordingly, long sections in which only a small number of vehicles are travelling come about before the overtaking vehicle while after the overtaking vehicle the traffic becomes congested.
This way of behaving of initiating overtaking manoeuvres with only a small differential speed with respect to the vehicle which is being overtaken occurs particularly frequently in the case of utility vehicles, such as lorries, for example. In Germany, many lorries and other utility vehicles are legally prohibited from travelling more quickly than a predefined maximum speed on motorways. This maximum speed is usually 60 km/h or 80 km/h depending on the utility vehicle. In order to comply with the maximum speed, the utility vehicles have in some cases corresponding limiters which limit the speed of the utility vehicles to the legally prescribed maximum speed. If, for example, a first lorry is travelling in the inside lane (right-hand lane in continental Europe) of the motorway at approximately 78 km/h and a further lorry which is travelling behind the latter initiates an overtaking manoeuvre at 80 km/h, the latter requires considerable time, owing to the small differential speed, to be able to travel past the first lorry. The formation of congestion is pre-programmed.